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Photo Gallery: Visions of Earth—Beauty, Majesty, Wonder

Lightning, Dubai

Visions of Earth showcases the beauty, majesty, and wonder of the world around us and pays tribute to the photographers who capture its essence. In this gallery, see a selection of stunning scenes from the new National Geographic book, and decorate your desktop with your favorite images.

Here, in Dubai, natural and man-made electricity illuminate the night. As jagged needles of lightning darn an overcast sky, the sail-shaped, 1,053-foot-tall (321-meter) Burj Al Arab hotel glows green on the edge of the Persian Gulf.

Lemurs, Madagascar

Decken's sifakas appear right at home in their karst home in western Madagascar. These lemurs live among the unusual pinnacles of the Tsingy de Bemaraha, which started to form 1.8 million years ago as groundwater dissolved and shaped the porous limestone.

Lake Natron, Tanzania

An airplane casts a shadow over the red waters of Lake Natron in Tanzania, part of the East African Rift Valley. The water's red hue is due to algae that live on salts spewed from nearby volcanoes. The East African Rift Valley system begins in northern Syria and extends across East Africa into Mozambique.

Volcano, Tanzania

Photograph by Olivier Grunewald

A camera's long nighttime exposure reveals the red glow of lava spilling from Mount Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania's Rift Valley. The volcano’s lava, which appears brown to the naked eye, has the consistency of olive oil.

Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica

Photograph by Patrick di Fruscia

Building clouds and a setting sun reflect on a sandy beach on Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula. The Pacific offers tranquil beauty and good surfing, just two of many reasons why this stable Central American country has become a favorite destination.

Scrap Yard, Canada

Photograph by Pete Ryan, National Geographic

It’s the end of the line for these crushed cars in a Victoria, British Columbia, scrap yard. Their metal, though, is destined to be recycled into other consumer products, and British Columbia encourages "early retirement" for older vehicles.

Bird Hunter, Pakistan

A bird hunter sports a heron decoy in the Indus River. The ancient Indus civilization, which reached its height some 3,000 years ago, commanded an area the size of Texas that reached from the Arabian Sea to the Himalayan foothills.

Cave of Crystals, Mexico

An explorer is no match for the gigantic crystals in Mexico's Cueva de los Cristales, or Cave of Crystals. In 2000, two brothers drilling for lead and silver in a remote part of northern Mexico discovered the underground crystal incubator. The largest of the crystals started to grow some 600,000 years ago.

Five Flower Lake, China

Verdant trees reflect in the morning waters of Five Flower Lake, colored by mineral deposits and aquatic plant life. Five Flower is one of 118 lakes in Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve, which came under Chinese protection in 1978.

Bear, Finland

Photograph by Meta Penca

Mimmi the brown bear shows her flair for flexibility during an afternoon stretch at the Ähtäri Zoo. Despite intense summer heat, the lively resident lifted paws for minutes at a time in poses she learned from her mother.

Salt Cones, Bolivia

Salt from the world’s largest salt plain in Salar de Uyuni waits for transport to surrounding Andean villages. It’s one of Earth’s flattest places; relief varies by less than 16 inches across some 4,000 square miles.

Frog and Crocodile, South Africa

A year-old Nile crocodile attempts to snap up a frog in the St. Lucia Estuary. Part of the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, which UNESCO named a World Heritage site in 1999, the protected area is Africa’s largest estuarine system.

Fishermen, Indonesia

See dusk in the Dampier Strait through a half-submerged lens and glimpse two distinct worlds. Under a cloud-slung sky, fishermen work on wooden boats. Beneath a mirror-calm surface, waters flash with baitfish.

Beach Mouse, Florida

An endangered Choctawhatchee beach mouse, Peromyscus polionotus allophrys, has good reason to appear shy. The nocturnal herbivore faces the ongoing threat of development of the sand dune ecosystem it inhabits.